Great Twitter presentation by Raffi Krikorian of Twitter's API team. The talk is from a presentation at UC Berkeley and he talks about Twitter's platform, scale, etc.
Fascinating to think about the scale of Twitter's ecosystem (users, messages, platform, developers) and how complex 140 characters can become... after billions of deliveries:
Every so often I like to dig into this blog's traffic and see what it reveals. This time I was sparked by a Quora conversation about how bloggers use Google Analytics. I looked at traffic from the last 30 days and since January 1st.
Three things jump out:
1. 12.5% of my readership is now via mobile devices. That is up from 8% since January 1st. Considering its a content blog, 12.5% is a large amount and it represents a +50% gain.
2. Chrome has emerged as the #2 browser after a significant gain (25% from 18%). Meanwhile, Firefox and Internet Explorer both lost share (37% to 34% and 20% to 17%).
3. For Mobile usage, the iPhone and iPad are the clear #1 and #2. Amazingly, the iPad now accounts for 26% of all mobile visits. It has clearly eaten into the iPhone (which fell from 63% to 58%). Android has been relatively stable - 8% of visits over the last 30 days and 7% since Jan 1.
Of course this is biased data (from a tech blog) from a relatively small sample size (10,000+ monthly uniques).
After a few days of usage, a handful of thoughts of Google Instant: 1. It's a technical feat: fast, inteliigent, and useful. 2. It's a design feat. Gorgeous, clean, simple and very Google (and Facebook to that extent).
3. It will have a significant impact on SEO and SEM... though I think we are all unclear exactly what it means yet.
My early thought is that it moves power to towards the head rather than the tail. For instance, more value will be placed on head terms and shorter queries - in other words, before the search is refined. For SEM that means that more bidding, traffic and clicks will be driven to those terms... and therefore they will cost more and CPMs will rise.
4. Today it requires you to search from Google.com. For most users, that is fine. But I am not sure that is the way we will behave in the future - and its certainly not I how use Google. My searches all occur in-browser... so Google Instant doesn't apply unless I do a secondary search / refinement.
5. That said, this has significant implications for Google Chrome. Imagine Instant applied to the browser... or to the OS, desktop, etc... Chrome and Chrome OS should utilize Instant across the browser and across other Google properties.
6. I believe this will mark a trend of companies that mimic the UI and design (which I am all for). Over time, this will be a very familiar interface and interaction.
This is picture from Twitpic sums up the options that consumers and brick & mortar retailers face: choice overload. Google Places, Facebook Places and/or Fan Pages, Twitter, Yelp... and that doesn't include Groupon, LivingSocial, and other couponing options. Choice is great - and it drives deeper innovation. But choice can also be overwhelming - and drive non-committal usage.
Lost among the hubbub surrounding the similarly named Facebook Places is Google's local product: Google Places. It might not include check-ins, but it is a product aimed at local businesses and search queries... and tied to Google's core competency and model. Google Places is: Yelp + AdWords + Google Analytics + Groupon. It's powerful.
Tied to Google's local search - which is integrated into core search, mobile and Google Maps - Google Places allows businesses to create profiles of themselves. These profiles supplement search results with content, pictures, etc.
For consumers or searchers, this means deeper and more actionable content. For business owners, this means that Google can provide analytics about searches / searchers... and of course get you to advertise against them. This includes:
A business dashboard (analytics) and advertising / coupon center:
A communications platform to broadcast content / events:
And a mobile / print couponing platform - of course tied to Google's mobile and maps platform:
And of course, Google is capable of promoting Places heavily through their content network (below is an example ad unit from this blog) and through Google's other popular products:
Nike has released the Nike+ GPS iPhone application to help you track, map and analyze your runs. It is a paid $1.99 application. Without needing the shoes, wristband, and/or monitor, the Nike+ application uses GPS to track your runs. It is very well done and can run in the background using iOS4. It is noteworthy that Nike has decided to sell the application. The Nike+ gear (shoes, monitors, etc) can cost $100+. The application does everything the gear does... but $1.99 won't exactly make a dent in Nike's sales. You would think they would opt for mass distribution and view it as a way to promote the Nike Running line, community, and events. Furthermore, it is a relatively competitive space - some of the most popular applications are markedly more expensive (~$10) but there are free alternatively (despite having less functionality). Again, $1.99 is not priced for market share and some buyers will ask themselves if it is worth spending money after having already purchased a running app(s).
For past users of Nike+, it is a familiar interface. The app can track an entire run or guide you to a pre-determined distance or speed. Once you complete your run, you can sync it with NikeRunning.com, earn badges based on your historical performance and connect with friends.
But the best part is the mapping. Below is a heatmap from a walk to the grocery store. It shows speeds at different points and then charts against the fastest / slowest moments of the run / walk. Simple concept - but it is very well done and surprisingly very fun to use:
I have been spending time on Quora answering questions around Dogpatch Labs, incubators, venture capital, etc. As I receive some questions frequently, I thought it would be worth while to re-purpose my answer for a couple selected topics. Over the next week, I will couple of the related topics specifically on Dogpatch Labs. I will only post my response - but can get other answers on Quora (I will provide the link). You can also follow me directly at Quora/Ryan-Spoon
There are terrific entrepreneurs and companies across both DogpatchLabs (you can see Dogpatch residents here: http://dogpatchlabs.com/dogpatch...) and Pier 38 (ie Social Media, Automattic, Cotweet, individuals, etc).
I will focus on the benefits of Dogpatch Labs - which accounts for ~65 of the entrepreneurs in the pier (making it the largest 'group'):
1. Direct Community
Your peers are fellow entrepreneurs who you will be working alongside during your six-month stay. You get to know a diverse group of individuals & companies who are all going through similar experiences. We have had residents with experience at Google, Yahoo, eBay, Microsoft, Zynga, Slide, Facebook, Imeem, and so forth. The companies are all at different stages - from concept to revenue producing - and the residents are roughly split between engineering and business.
2. Community Beyond San Francisco & Your "Class"
Related to the above bullet, Dogpatchers are connected with residents at each of our locations (SF, NYC and Boston) and with 'graduates'. In total, that is a community of ~300 entrepreneurs each year.
3. People Flow
One of the great benefits of being within Dogpatch is the flow of great people who come through the lab - whether it be for meetings, workspace, events, etc. Residents are encouraged to take meetings in the common areas, on the pier, in the meeting rooms, etc - opening everyone to new people and potential partners.
4. Events
We host approximately an event a week at Dogpatch Labs. Some are informal gatherings (social, catch ups, etc) and some are more formal / elaborate. For instance, we have done angel nights, demo days, themed dinners (such as mobile) and events with major partners and speakers - including: Facebook, TechCrunch, Venturebeat, Robert Scoble, Hiten Shah / KISSmetrics, etc. Some events are open to the Pier but most are focused specifically for Dogpatch Labs residents (both past and current).
5. Location
Tough to beat the views: http://www.facebook.com/dogpatchlabs
Two weeks ago, Facebook rolled out their new Places product; and, to drive user awareness and adoption, they prominently promoted it within their mobile application and web experience. This week, Twitter rolled out Twitter for iPad. It's an exceptional product and I encourage non-Twitter users to trial it as well... the user experience is that good!
To drive awareness of the new application, Twitter is delivering an interstitial to users browsing via an iPad. It's big, highly relevant and promotes the application over the web experience (just compare the size / placement of the 'download button' vs. the mobile.twitter.com link).
It's another great example of driving usage through relevant promotion (relevance defined by placements and user targeting)... and what I refer to as getting product "in the river".
As I preface every Facebook post, it is difficult to tell how widespread a feature (or test) is because they are constantly testing new products to different segments of their massive audience. With that out of the way, I have started to see image tagging units in the advertising panel on Facebook image pages. It probably appears on <5% of impressions. It shows an answer with someones face and asks you to tag it. My guess is that it is a mechnical turk like confirmation of friend tags, or more far fetched, an experiment to confirm their facial recognition
But my first reaction was actually neither of these things. It was a recollection of Google's Image Labeler game / tool from a few years ago. Speaking od game mechanics and Mechanical Turk - Image Labeler was ahead of the curve.
Google would have you paired with another user in real time. The goal of the game is to both type the same word - any descriptive word- about a series of images. Upon user pairing, it would reveal an image synchronously and a list of obvious words that you can not use in the game. Once you both enter the same descriptive word not on the banned list - points are awarded (function of speed, accuracy) and the next image is loaded.
Its simple to play. Its synchronous. Points are awarded and leader boards are displayed throughout the experience - so its competitive. And it assists Google and their various image / algorithm / matching technologies.
